The Paper Revolution
By Eunice Park

Paper is both temporary and eternal. When wrapped around Whoppers and Big Macs, it is the environmentalist’s dream -- biodegradable and gone within months. When used for documents like constitutions and treaties, it changes history. We flush it down the toilet as worthless garbage, yet paper has played an invaluable role as the physical medium for the spread of culture, knowledge and ideas.

This versatile, almost liquid medium is the focus of Invention and Invocation: The Chinese Paper Arts, an exhibition of 123 works by six leading Taiwanese artists, on display through Aug. 6 at the Taipei Gallery in New York City.

Archaeological discoveries confirm that paper was already being used before Tsai Lun supposedly invented it during the reign of Emperor He Di of the Eastern Han dynasty (A.D. 25-221). During its 2,000-year history, paper has served its noble function as a major means of communication and has remained closely tied to the folk traditions of the Chinese people.

As an artistic medium, paper can be cut into intricate designs, making lanterns, umbrellas and other decorations for Chinese festivals. These traditions have led to the more modern art forms of paper-folding, paper-sculpting, paper clay, pulp-painting, ripped cotton paper-painting, packaging and paper rattan.

While “fine art” usually equates to more permanent things like bronze and oil paint, Invention and Invocation proves that paper in itself can be used to create a diverse range of exquisite art. This exhibit features Lai Chen-Hsiang, Huang Ying-Chuan, Lo Hung-Chi, Hsieh Shi-Hui, Wu Ching-Fang, Hsieh Shu-Hui and Hsieh Wen-Chi, whose different uses of paper show its boundless potential for art.

Lai folds paper to create dimensional sculptures that are predominantly geometric. The sculptures are monochromatic and have an architectural feel, accented by extreme detail and sharp angles and edges.

In contrast to this angular style, Huang’s paper carvings are colorful and curvaceous. Using the imaginary world of children as his main inspiration, his solid paper sculptures, made with scissors and glue, are playful and almost cartoonish.

Wu also creates paper sculptures, but his style is more ancient and bleak, often inspired by Song Dynasty poems or Taiwanese folk songs.

Hsieh Wen-Chi got his first pair of scissors in elementary school, and ever since then, he has been cutting breathtakingly ornate paper designs. He uses a “hollow-out” method to create dimensional representations that capture the delicate essence of butterflies, leaves and other forms of nature.

Whereas Hsieh’s paper cuttings are tiny sculptures, Lo’s cuttings are more like paintings. Depicting the aboriginal art of Taiwan and portraits of women, his work has more contemporary undertones and combines paper-cutting with sand painting.

Perhaps the most modern of the most modern of the artists is Hsieh Shu-Hui, whose ripped cotton paper paintings are drenched in vivid watercolor. The irregular edges of his blunt paper shapes describe things ranging from brush-painting-like traditional roosters to almost abstract fields of wildflowers. The overall effect is to create seemingly flat paintings with interesting textures and depth.

The title of the exhibition, Invention and Invocation, accurately describes the diverse nature of the artwork. Each artist builds individualized artistic inventions from paper, a most ancient invention, and invokes the traditional methods of paper craft in combining a new range of themes and colors. Here, inventions invoke each other, revealing the extraordinary potential of an ordinary material.

Invention and Invocation is on exhibit through Aug. 6 at Taipei Gallery, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York City. For more information, call 212-373-1854.